In this month running from April 18 to May 18, dedicated to the celebration of Heritage Month, we seized the opportunity of a stopover by our compatriot, Professor Bouchenaki Mounir, senior executive within Unesco, in order to inform us about what is being prepared and the actions carried out by Unesco, to better protect cultural sites and monuments throughout the world, without however avoiding asking it the question relating to the situation of cultural heritage in our country. Enriching information. Professor Mounir Bouchenaki: “2022, we are celebrating the fiftieth anniversary of the 1972 convention”.
- In 2003, I asked you a question about the mechanisms put in place by Unesco to protect cultural sites and monuments and the fate reserved for the archaeological, literary and cultural heritage (museums and libraries) following the invasion in Iraq. You have just carried out a mission in Mosul in March 2022. In a few words, we are curious about the state of play of Iraqi cultural sites, two decades after the start of the war…
Unesco entrusted me with several missions in Iraq, in particular since 1990, after the bombardments which hit the city of Baghdad and one of the targets of which had as collateral damage the decommissioning of the ventilation system and the air conditioning of the National Museum.
I was then able to observe, with the museum officials, the development of termites in several rooms and the damage to the wooden art objects but also to the walls of the museum. The sad irony of the situation is that it was not allowed to send an anti-termite product following the embargo imposed on the country.
But the most dramatic situation for Iraqi heritage was that caused by the American invasion in March-April 2003. I went there in mid-May 2003 with four international experts (the director of the British Museum, Niel Mac Gregor, the director of the Massachusetts Institute of Art, John Russel, the director of the Italian-Iraqi Center and the head of the Japanese archaeological mission in Iraq) and we noted the theft of more than 15,000 objects in the galleries and the reserves of the National Museum.
But even more, we were able to document the fire at the National Library and the serious damage caused to the Museum of Popular Arts and Traditions as well as the Museum of Fine Arts.
Our report has been submitted to UNESCO and the United Nations Secretariat. For the first time, the UN Security Council adopted a resolution on the fight against the illicit traffic in works of art.
“The Security Council reaffirms its decision, in paragraph 7 of Resolution 1483 (2003), and resolves that all Member States should take appropriate measures to prevent the trade in Iraqi and Syrian cultural property and other objects of archaeological, historical, cultural, scientific or religious value, which have been illegally removed from Iraq since August 6, 1990 and from Syria since March 15, 2011, including by banning transnational trade in such objects and by thus allowing them to be returned to the Iraqi and Syrian peoples.
It requests the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, Interpol and other international organizations to facilitate the implementation of the provisions of this paragraph. (Excerpt from Security Council Resolution 2199).
A second mission, in July of the same year, enabled us to see the state of the archaeological sites victims of clandestine excavations and lootings in Babylon, Umma, Uruk, Ur, etc., and to note in Bassorah the fire of the Regional Library, the theft of objects from the Archaeological Museum but also the devastation of the University of Basra.
With a group of international experts, we traveled the cities and sites of northern Iraq, from Kirkuk to Erbil, then from Mosul to Samarra, passing through the sites of Nimrud, Assur and Hatra. War damage was less than in the south of the country.
At the time (2003), Hatra was the only site in Iraq inscribed on the World Heritage List. Since then, Iraq contains the following sites inscribed on the World Cultural Heritage List.
– Ashur (Qal’at Cherqat) (2003)
– Babylon (2019)
– Erbil Citadel (2014)
– Hatra (1985)
– Archaeological city of Samarra (2007)
– The Ahwar of southern Iraq: refuge of biodiversity and relict landscape of Mesopotamian cities (2016)
It was only later, with the development of terrorist groups such as Daesh, that the intentional destruction of heritage experienced an extremely serious intensity, with in particular the occupation by Daesh of the city of Mosul, the second largest city in the country.
This is why as soon as this city was liberated by Iraqi forces, the Director General launched a large-scale project “to revive the spirit of Mosul”.
One of the ongoing projects is the reconstruction/restoration of the Al Nouri Mosque and its famous leaning Al Hadba minaret dating from the 12th century, as well as two churches, one belonging to the Dominican community and the other to the Syriacs.
With Professor Daniele Pini, from the University of Ferrara, we carry out regular missions to Mosul for the implementation of this project funded by the United Arab Emirates.
We have already visited Mosul three times in the last two years, despite the difficulties of travel due to the Covid pandemic.
In close liaison with the “State Board of Antiquities” of the Ministry of Culture and the constant support of my colleague and compatriot Mohamed Djelid, former director of the Unesco office in Baghdad, we can cite numerous achievements, the most important of which is the rehabilitation total of the National Museum in Baghdad.
It has regained all its splendor and the campaign led by Unesco and Interpol has made it possible to recover a large number of objects that had been stolen. However, the task is still very heavy and it is to be hoped that other contributors can help the Iraqi authorities in the rehabilitation and enhancement of all their cultural heritage.
- Like other countries in the world, Algeria systematically celebrates Heritage Month, without attraction. The particularity in 2022, Unesco has decided to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Unesco Convention on the protection of the world cultural and natural heritage. As a permanent expert in this planetary organism, what is your comment?
The 1972 Unesco Convention concerning the protection of the world cultural and natural heritage will actually celebrate its 50th anniversary on November 16 of this 2022.
This Convention is currently ratified by all countries in the world (194 countries as of Oct. 23, 2020). I would like to begin by recalling the participation in the drafting of this convention of an Algerian expert, Mr. Sid Ahmed Derradji, then permanent delegate of Algeria to Unesco in the 1970s.
That is to say the importance that Algeria attached to this convention which it ratified on June 24, 1974, that is to say that it was one of the first States Parties to recognize the importance of this international treaty.
States Parties are countries that have ratified the World Heritage Convention. They thus agree to identify and propose properties located on their national territory and likely to be inscribed on the World Heritage List.
When a State Party nominates a property for inscription, it must give details of how the property is legally protected and provide a management plan for its maintenance.
States Parties must protect the values for which their properties have been listed; they are also encouraged to submit reports to Unesco on the state of conservation of these properties.
This Convention was at the origin of two major concepts, that of the link between cultural heritage and natural heritage, hitherto considered as two different entities, and on the other hand, the recognition of cultural and natural heritage as common property of humanity.
Hence the importance of a celebration of its 50th anniversary which will also take place in Florence, Italy, on November 16. Thanks to this convention, there are now 1154 listed properties in 167 countries, including 897 cultural, 218 natural and 39 mixed properties. Algeria, for its part, has 7 inscribed sites, with 6 cultural sites and one mixed site.
The celebration of the 50th anniversary of this convention should be an opportunity to take stock of the management of World Heritage sites and to meet the contemporary challenges they face such as climate change and unplanned urbanization.
- You were present at the work in Monaco, what are the conclusions reached at the end of the 11th edition of the last international meetings Monaco and the Mediterranean, since our country is part of the Mediterranean basin?
Since their creation in 2001, the Monaco and the Mediterranean International Meetings, placed under the High Patronage of Unesco and H.S.H. Prince Albert II, bring together every two years high personalities from the intellectual and scientific world, specialists in the Mediterranean to exchange their knowledge and expertise on the cultural and natural heritage of this region, examining it from the angles of the past, present and future.
I participated, with the Director of Culture, Mrs. Elisabeth Breaud, in the creation of this program of “RIMM Meetings” when I was Deputy Director General for Culture at Unesco and I continued to participate in it. every two years until this year, which has earned me the appointment of Honorary President by Prince Albert II of Monaco since 2016.
After each meeting, a publication is made, which means that there are now ten publications on subjects as diverse as those mentioned below:
– March 2001 – Mediterranean cities, what future? The founding cities of Mediterranean thought over time. Their past and their future in the face of urban and tourist development. –
– March 2003 – New technologies at the service of the protection of Mediterranean heritage and the dissemination of its culture. Networking Mediterranean heritage: cultural, political and economic dimensions. Digital image at the service of heritage and archaeology: from remote sensing to visualization. –
– March 2005 – The Mediterranean heritage in question. Archaeological sites, site museums, new museums. National summaries of cultural policies applied to archaeological heritage. The issue of the development of archaeological sites and their museums. 21st century museums.
– March 2007 – Cultural, natural and underwater heritage for sustainable development in the Mediterranean. Maritime heritage: ports on the Mediterranean coast. What future ? Planning and sustainable development projects. Maritime Cultural Heritage: Coastal Archaeological Zones.
What future? Planning and sustainable development projects. Natural heritage: Natural parks and maritime areas: anticipating or curing? Underwater heritage: safeguarding underwater heritage: reality or utopia? –
– March 2009 – Sustainable and equitable management of freshwater in the Mediterranean. Memory and traditions, future and solutions Legacy: water management from Antiquity to the Arab-Muslim civilization.
-March 2011 – Can the Mediterranean play a civilizing role again? Perspectives on legacies and future challenges. The legacies. The leading cities of today and tomorrow. Networks: major cultural challenges.
-March 2013 – The power of fire: from the myth of Prometheus to future challenges in the Mediterranean. Stories of the origins and symbolism of fire. The erratic awakenings of the Mediterranean. Meeting political and energy challenges.
-March 2016 – Tomorrow the Mediterranean, how to live the world differently? Thinking about anthropogenesis in the Mediterranean. The time of concrete utopias. Mediterranean, face of the future.
-March 2018 – Artists and Intellectuals in the Mediterranean. Their places, their roles, their challenges.
-March 2020 – Acting for Heritage in the Mediterranean.
– March 2022 – The islands of the Mediterranean. Shadows and Lights.
In a multidisciplinary spirit, the RIMMs are open to the public and aim to bring together, every two years, experts from all walks of life to reflect on the major contemporary issues around the Mediterranean.
Arab experts from all Mediterranean countries are regularly invited to these Meetings. Among them, Algerian experts addressed the problem of fires, that of water desalination, that of emigration, etc. Everything is published.
- You have just returned from a mission carried out in Cambodia. What is the purpose of your trip?
This is a project that has been started. It began with the inscription of the Angkor site in December 1992, during the meeting of the World Heritage Committee (WHC) in Santa Fe in the USA.
It was during the same session that the Casbah site was included on this list. I was then director of the World Heritage Division at Unesco. I participated in this session which inscribed Angkor for the first time on the World Heritage List and at the same time on the List of World Heritage in Danger. Cambodia was emerging from more than 02 decades of armed conflict, which ended with the Paris Agreements in 1991.
The first request that Prince Norodom Sihanouk made to UNESCO as soon as the signing of these Agreements was completed was to help his country preserve the Angkor site, because he considered it a priority for his country. It should be noted that the 03 towers of the Temple of Angkor Wat are on the national flag of Cambodia. The DG of Unesco at the time, Mr. Frederico Mayor responded favorably to this request.
In October 1993, two countries, France and Japan, organized a meeting in Tokyo which decided on the creation of the ICC (International Coordination Committee for the Safeguarding and Development of the Angkor Site).
Several countries have joined this committee, namely North Korea and South Korea, India, Indonesia, Italy, Luxembourg, Switzerland, USA, Thailand. In 2023, the 30th anniversary of this CIC will be celebrated, which is considered a model of international cooperation.
Since its creation, the CIC has met twice a year. A group of ad hoc experts appointed by Unesco composed of 04 professionals in the field of cultural heritage, of which I am a member, and 03 professionals in the field of development.
It is in this context that I recently participated in the 02 technical and plenary meetings, organized in Siem Reap, a city located 15 km from the Angkor site, between March 15 and 20, 2022. It was a question of filling the absence of missions during the two years marked by the Covid pandemic, during which our meetings were held online.
- Back to Africa. We have the impression that Unesco sends its experts to Asia, the Arab countries, and not to this continent. Our continent does not seem to be on the roadmap of this international institution in recent years, particularly our country, Algeria…
The reports and tables published by Unesco show that there is a distribution of projects in all regions of the world. The African continent is considered by UNESCO as a priority region.
There is only one sector at Unesco that deals with a continent, it is Africa, like the science sector, the culture sector, the communication sector and the science sector. social. This sector is called Priority Africa.
It is managed like the other sectors of an Assistant Director General. I worked for 25 years at UNESCO. I can tell you that all countries are considered equal. Moreover, if this were not the case, the ambassadors of all countries have their offices at UNESCO.
They closely follow all the activities carried out by the various sectors of competence of the Organization. Algeria also has its own representation and relations are very close with the ministers in charge of programs carried out in cooperation with Unesco.
With regard to the cultural heritage of Algeria, and in particular the sites inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in Paris and its field office in Rabat (Morocco) are in permanent contact and missions are conducted, in particularly in the context of the implementation of the 1972 convention.
However, the management of the sites and their upkeep remain the responsibility of the State and not that of Unesco, which cannot ensure this type of function for the 1154 sites inscribed on the list of world cultural heritage distributed in 167 countries on the planet.
- The celebration of heritage month in Algeria goes unnoticed. So, what axes do you recommend, in order to carry out actions to raise awareness among the populations, to encourage them to focus more on the protection of their heritage in the plural. You are respected throughout the world, thanks to your various scientific missions, our readers will be attentive to your answer, because your long experience from the low level in Algeria to the top of Unesco and the World Heritage Committee is greatly interesting. …
There are many specialists, women and men, in Algeria who have an excellent knowledge of the national cultural heritage and I am just one of them, quite simply.
And everyone can answer your question by addressing, on the occasion of “heritage month”, issues of management and good practices in this area.
The management of cultural heritage is, by nature, directly linked to Algeria’s cultural policy as it was conducted after the war of national liberation and the recovery of national sovereignty, as can be seen in books and press articles. which have been devoted to it and which shed useful light on how to follow and understand the evolution of this policy over the past sixty years.
It would take a very long time to go into detail to answer your question, which is of particular importance. I will therefore sum up in a few words the possible lines of action.
It is a question, first of all, of appreciating the importance of the national heritage which covers millions of years if we take as we should do all the eras from prehistory to the present day.
All audiences should be made aware and familiarized with the need to take into account, enhance and make known the national heritage, a prestigious cultural heritage, and of course recall its rich diversity and its territorial extension. It is this wealth that is also the source of the challenges and issues that will have to be addressed.
- Our country is endowed with an immense terrestrial and underwater archaeological wealth. An untapped asset. From your office at Unesco, what do you recommend for better protection of Algerian monuments classified on the Unesco World Cultural Heritage List? The role of culture in economic development is nevertheless promising, if the will is there…
In 1968, I wrote an article on the history of the ancient port of Tipasa in the Revue d’histoire et de civilization du Maghreb, and this after, on the one hand, the visit to Algeria of the famous commander Jacques-Yves Cousteau and , on the other hand, of two divers from the University of Oxford, Mr. Yorke and Mr. Davidson who carried out a sonar survey of the coast of Tipasa.
It is thanks to the result of this sonar that we have finally identified the location of the ancient port.
Contacts were made with the countries which, from the 60s of the last century, significantly launched underwater archaeological research, namely France, Greece, Italy, Turkey and Tunisia.
It turned out that a lot of technical means and above all the training of archaeologist divers were needed to initiate a real program in this field, and it is only during the last decade that the National Center for Archaeological Research obtained the means to implement a program dedicated to the knowledge of underwater heritage, when it is well known that we have more than 1300 kilometers of marine coastline.
During my duties at Unesco, I had to work on the preparation and then the adoption by the General Conference, in 2001, of the Convention concerning the protection of the underwater cultural heritage which Algeria ratified on February 26, 2015. .
It is Professor Toufik Hamoum, an expert in underwater heritage, who was recently reappointed to head the Scientific and Technical Advisory Board (STAB) of the UNESCO Convention for the Protection of Underwater Cultural Heritage.
For the moment, only 71 countries have ratified this convention, which is less popular than that of the world cultural and natural heritage or that of 2003 on the safeguarding of intangible cultural heritage. Along with Japan, Algeria was the first country to ratify the 2003 Convention on March 15, 2004.
This convention, which has been a great success, is currently ratified by 180 States Parties. I will leave for the moment the crucial question concerning “Culture and Development”, which deserves a separate article.
- There is a war going on in Ukraine. Nobody seems to mention or worry about the protection of cultural monuments. Has Unesco intervened to warn belligerents about the damage that war can cause to cultural and natural sites in these countries?
I think that this recent conflict in Ukraine is at the forefront of the concerns of all cultural institutions in the world, and at the forefront of UNESCO. I quote a UNESCO press release of March 19, 2022: “The United Nations organization calls on its Member States, of which Russia is a member, to respect international law by not targeting cultural sites. At the risk of seeing entire sections of the history of Ukraine and of humanity disappear forever.
As was the case during previous conflicts, in Mali, Iraq or Syria, the war in Ukraine raises fears of the destruction of invaluable monuments and collections. Unesco has already noted, thanks to feedback from the field and satellite images, the destruction and degradation of several historic city centers and museums due to bombardments, fires or collateral damage.
UNESCO helps authorities and museum directors remotely with technical advice and recommendations to preserve sites, classified or not. The organization tells us that all options are taken locally to hide, evacuate and shelter the works. Operations that take place in the greatest secrecy so as not to provide information to the Russian military forces.
Another action currently deployed: the marking of buildings with the “blue shield”, a blue and white symbol which can be affixed to walls, roofs or doors.
The aim is to point out the monuments which should not be targeted since they are protected in the event of armed conflict by the Hague Convention of 1954 and its two Protocols of 1954 and 1999”.
The Director of the World Heritage Centre, my friend Lazare Eloundou, is on all the televisions who wish to know what this Center does, in particular for the 7 sites of Ukraine inscribed on the World Heritage List.
Translated by Hope from https://elwatan-dz.com/pr-bouchenaki-mounir-haut-cadre-au-sein-de-lunesco-vieux-de-millions-dannees-le-patrimoine-national-est-precieux
